retrieving textarea contents into a bean

I have a form that has a textarea field, but after I submit the form, the textarea field is always null (on the database as well). I am not sure why this is happenning. I am using a bean for the form variables and then processing through a JSP. If any fields are missing, then the form is redisplayed with some erros messages and the user must try again. I want the original values from the textarea on the form to be displayed on the retry form. Here is the code (I have left out the non-releveant portions):